Doing Enough

Do you ever wonder, worry, or feel like you aren’t doing enough as a Christian, for God, or His kingdom?

As a young believer, the verses in John 15 always scared me. I wondered if I was doing enough as a Christian. I only associated “fruits” in these verses with numbers of people, specifically the number of people I would win in my lifetime for Christ. Would it be enough? Had anyone truly committed their life to Christ because of me? I mistakenly trusted in my own works and my successfulness in completing them as a qualification for being a true believer in Jesus.

However, we know bearing fruit by remaining in Christ represents so many things according to scripture. Generally, it’s the positive result of a life changed by Christ. It’s a recognition of sin and turning away from actions that displease God.

In Galatians 5, it says specifically “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These are all characteristics and things that I want to be part of my being and living. The Holy Spirit can truly help each of us develop these fruits when we remain in Him. And really, what’s key is to remain in Christ and depend on Him daily. He assures us that He will remain with us.

While it is important to be obedient to Christ in sharing our faith with others, it is only Christ and He alone who saves. It’s not based on anything we do in any way beyond our faith in Him. And our salvation in Him is not dependent on how many positive responses we have to sharing our faith. It’s not dependent on how many good works we do either, whatever they may be.

And friends, we don’t need to worry about our identity as His. If we truly believe in Christ, God knows our hearts and sees what is true.

I, for one, am so grateful to Christ for sacrificing His perfect life for mine. I know I could never do enough good things to save myself. None of us can. He did enough save each of us.